Cropped 9 April 2025: Trump’s tariffs; UK megafarm ‘blocked’; ‘Sus timber’ in Tasmania
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We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight. This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter. Subscribe for free here. Key developments Trump’s tariff fallout WASTE NOT: US president Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs will “almost certainly mean higher prices […]
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How UAV Aerial Surveys Are Changing Environmental Monitoring
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Drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), are changing the world. Termed as a revolution in the technology world, environmental monitoring is a major sector that is positively impacted by this innovation. But, UAV aerial surveys are a far cry from the conventional practices of environmental studies; they offer new perspectives to gain insights into study areas […]
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Why adding a fish pond to your landscaping can benefit you and the local environment
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This article contains sponsored content. With summertime just on the horizon, the outdoor areas of businesses become much more of a focal point, for both ambience and aesthetics. Fish Ponds can not only create a sense of serenity on a property but can also help boost conservation credentials. Installing a fish pond to your property […]
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Tuning the tide: soundwaves could weaken tsunamis and boost marine renewables, says new study
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Underwater sound waves could weaken tsunamis by redistributing their energy before they strike coastlines, saving lives and infrastructure in at-risk locations across the globe, according to new research. The study, led by Cardiff University, reveals how ocean waves and sound waves, previously thought unrelated, can interact to reshape their dynamics. The interaction, which requires two […]
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Avoid CMA greenwashing clampdown by “investing in sustainability training” urges Environmental Law expert
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From Sunday 6 April, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been granted significantly enhanced enforcement powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act. The legislation equips the CMA with the ability to impose direct and severe penalties on businesses found to be in breach of consumer law, including those guilty of […]
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Guest post: How to apportion ‘net-zero carbon debt’ if global warming overshoots 1.5C
As global warming approaches the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C limit, the likelihood of at least a temporary temperature “overshoot” looms into view. This puts global climate action into a new context, where the focus is not only on rapid reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, but the large-scale removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in order to […]
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Over half of UK’s decarbonisation is dependent on technologies that are not yet commercially mature: PwC’s Net Zero Future50 report
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Consultancy firm PwC UK’s latest research emphasises the crucial role of climate technology in steering the world towards net zero emissions and highlights the importance of innovation for the UK’s growth and competitiveness. PwC’s “Net Zero Future50” report reveals that more than half (56%) of the UK’s decarbonisation efforts rely on technologies that are not […]
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UK Energy Minister to speak at All-Energy 2025 in Glasgow
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UK Energy Minister, Michael Shanks MP will speak at the opening plenary session. With five weeks to go before All-Energy opens at Glasgow’s SEC, the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference has announced that following a keynote address by Scotland’s First Minister, The Rt Hon John Swinney MSP, the UK Energy […]
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Brushing with disaster? Technology firm issues warning about acute landfill contributor
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Electric toothbrushes are adding to the world’s growing mountain of harmful ewaste at a concerning rate. UK sustainable technology firm In2tec is calling for greater awareness of the issue, and a shift to the use of reusable components in the manufacture of these devices. Experts at In2tec say cheap toothbrushes and consumers upgrading to new […]
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New Executive Order Tees Up Challenges to State and Local Climate Laws
On April 8, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach,” which directs the U.S. attorney general to work with department and agency heads to “identify all State and local laws, regulations, causes of action, policies, and practices (collectively, State laws) burdening the identification, development, siting, production, or use […]
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Could LLMs help design our next medicines and materials?
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The process of discovering molecules that have the properties needed to create new medicines and materials is cumbersome and expensive, consuming vast computational resources and months of human labor to narrow down the enormous space of potential candidates. Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT could streamline this process, but enabling an LLM to understand and […]
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The Medicaid Cut Effect: Can AI Prevent an Incoming Healthcare Crisis?
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Medicaid has become a central point of a heated political battle, as Republican lawmakers push for deep cuts to help fund tax reductions. President Donald Trump and GOP leaders aim to slash Medicaid spending by $880 billion over the next decade, trimming roughly 10% of the program’s budget. However, the consequences could be severe as […]
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Is Robot Exploitation Universal or Culturally Dependent?
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People in Japan treat cooperative artificial agents with the same level of respect as they do humans, while Americans are significantly more likely to exploit AI for personal gain, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports by researchers from LMU Munich and Waseda University Tokyo. As self-driving vehicles and other AI autonomous robots […]
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San Francisco v. EPA: Impact on Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal
On March 4, 2025, the Supreme Court handed down an important ruling in City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency. In a 5-4 decision, the Court curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) authority under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) to issue pollutant discharge permits. The case involved a wastewater treatment facility that […]
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Chris Mahl, President and CEO at Pryon – Interview Series
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Chris Mahl is President and Chief Executive Officer at Pryon. With more than two decades of experience at some of the world’s most well-known enterprise software companies, Chris specializes in scaling go-to-market and operational strategies for technology companies at all stages of growth. Pryon provides a trusted, safe, and proven path to implementing generative AI in […]
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Canada Must Become the New Leader in AI: The Road to 2029
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Canada has a remarkable claim to fame in the realm of artificial intelligence. While the United States and China dominate the global stage with massive venture capital flows and booming tech giants, Canadians can point to many of AI’s pioneering minds—from Geoffrey Hinton, often hailed as the “Godfather of Deep Learning,” to Ilya Sutskever, co-founder […]
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The Rise of AI in Scientific Discoveries: Can AI Truly Think Outside the Box?
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, with its applications spreading across industries such as healthcare, finance, education, and entertainment. Among the most exciting areas for AI is scientific research. AI’s ability to process vast data, recognize complex patterns, and make predictions is accelerating the pace at which scientific discoveries are made. This raises an intriguing […]
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JPEG AI Blurs the Line Between Real and Synthetic
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In February of this year, the JPEG AI international standard was published, after several years of research aimed at using machine learning techniques to produce a smaller and more easily transmissible and storable image codec, without a loss in perceptual quality. From the official publication stream for JPEG AI, a comparison between Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio […]